With the carefully controlled playlists of today, most
bands can only dream of being heard on the radio. Einstein’s Secret
Orchestra, on the other hand, were being broadcast on Cleveland’s airwaves
before they even played a gig. Vocalist/bass player Chas Smith told me,
“The band began on FM 89.3 WCSB. We started bringing equipment up and
playing music on the air. That was about 1993 or 1994 and that evolved into
a live act eventually. We did that for a few months in a row, where we
would meet every Tuesday night in the studio and just turn the equipment on
and record everything that happened.” The band’s sound at this time was a
sort of free form psychedelia, well represented on their first CD ‘Witch
Disco’ (1999). Although Chas still hosts a show on WCSB (Thursday nights at
11pm), the days when the band would perform in the studio are long gone. “I
think it just played itself out to a degree. I needed a break form it.”

As the group moved from the studio to the stage, they
began to write more structured material. They also started doing an
eclectic assortment of cover tunes, ranging from Johnny Cash to The Velvet
Underground. During this phase, Chas played keyboards and Theremin in
addition to singing, and the group also included an electric violin player.
Songs from this period can be heard on discs included with Cle Magazine
issues 4 and 5, and on another full length ESO album called ‘Sex in Another
Dimension’. It was this line-up that won the Free Times Readers poll for
“Best Electronic Band” two years in a row. While their inclusion in that
category is debatable (“Nobody can ever peg us into just one genre. That’s
a very purposeful thing,” says Chas), the band was certainly deserving of
some kind of award.

On the
night I spoke with Chas, the band was near the beginning of yet another
phase of evolution. The 'O' in ESO now stands for Outlaws, and the band now consists of Chas (bass, vocals), Lonesome Cowboy Dave (guitar, vocals), Bob Mozik (drums), guitarists John Petkovich and Frank Bazzanno (both from Cobra
Verde, a band Chas also plays with), percussionist Raven Noir and
occasionally Dr. K'taden Legume sits in on harmonica. “This is
just what we’re doing this summer, doing the Outlaw thing, having some fun
with that. Who knows what will come out next year. It goes in cycles,”
Chas explained. He continued, “Because we’re a festival band, all winter
long is geared towards those summer gigs (Ed. – ESO plays at the huge pagan
fest Starwood, among others), which we just finished up. So right now we’re
in a very laid back mode. All the big gigs for the year have happened now.
So now we’ve peaked at one end of our cycle, and we’ll rebuild and see what
comes up next year.”

Aside from their festival shows, the most likely place
to find ESO performing is at a Church of the Subgenius[1]
devival. Chas told me how that association came about. “One time when I
was on the air, and we were doing our thing, [Reverend Ivan]
Stang happened
to be in Cleveland for a devival or something and he heard us on the air.
That was about ’94 or ‘95, somewhere in there. So “Bob” sort of found ESO
and became a part of ESO. ESO became a part of the Church of the Subgenius
in a way. Even though we’re very separate entities, we do get associated
very closely together.”

When Chas isn’t playing rock music, he’s teaching about
it at Cleveland State University. “It’s a roots of rock n roll course,” he
says. “I’ve been teaching down there for 10 years, since I got my masters.
I started teaching classical, Beethoven, Bach, Mozart. But then I went to
the department and found out they had a rock n roll course listed but
weren’t offering it. I said, “I can do this”, so they pretty much gave me
carte blanche to create whatever course I wanted. They gave me the title,
though: ‘Roots of rock and soul’. We start about turn of the century, Civil
war era, looking at the music of America then, and we progress right into
blues and R and B, and then rock ‘n’ roll. The course ends at Woodstock.”

As far as the state of rock ‘n’ roll today, Chas had
this to offer. “It’s certainly
controlled by all the powers that be. Marketing is in control right now.
Personally I thought the punks were cool, but then I came into it with the
punks. Punk was sort of a thing about, “I don’t care about you, fuck
you”. But then grunge happened, and grunge seemed more about “I don’t care
about me, fuck me.” I think music turned inward emotionally in a
destructive way instead of a productive way. Some people say, “I’m just
reflecting my society, I’m just a mirror.” Well, that’s one side of the
coin. The other side is that you create your own reality. So if you sing
about love, you will love. Sing about hate, you will hate. You plant the
seeds yourself. Language is a virus.

In conclusion, he added, “I think musicians need to
look at the roots, look at the blues, look at hillbilly and gospel, and
learn from that, There are people who do that, you just have to seek them
out. Explore, if you’re a musician. Keep things fresh. Don’t lock
yourself into any genre. There’s an amazing world of music that was created
here in America. If you have to hit the road and go dig your fingers in the
mud of the Mississippi delta and explore America as well, that’s what you
need to do. Whether you’re a musician, or just any person, and you haven’t
done that then do it. Get off your ass, get in the car and go see what’s
out there. If you just take what the man shoves down your throat then you
never find out anything."

[1]
Space prohibits a detailed explanation of the Church, but those
interested can find out more at www.subgenius.com. I will mention,
however, that they are the only religious cult to offer eternal
salvation or triple your money back.